My first NSA aquascape. Glue + sand + baking soda

[ninjamyst]

Did my first NSA scape today. This is going into a waterbox 7726 160g peninsula. I picked out 50 lbs of Marco rocks from WWC. Took literally all day to do this. Pretty sure I stared at the pile of rocks for 2 hours and didn't know how to start. But once I got going, it became easier and easier. I used only Gluemasters medium and thick glue because Amazon didn't have the big bottle for thin. I smashed some of the marco rocks into fine sand. Also mixed some baking soda with water.

Tips
- smaller rocks is better. I rebroke the rocks multiple times to get them smaller and smaller
- if you get to choose your rocks, go for the ones with lots of holes and irregular shapes. Don't go for the dense ones that are ball shaped.
- used a tiny brush to apply baking soda water solution. You want the mixture thick. Like milk shake.
- good base rock is important. WWC only had one small.foundation rock. I wish they had more. Hard to stabilize tall structure without flat bottom.
- glue will drip everywhere
- my combo is brush on baking soda, apply glue, sprinkle sand, apply glue again, sprinkle sand
- the structure is a actually 3 separate pieces so I can transfer it to the tank and then glue the connecting points together
- I still have 25 lbs of rocks left. Will probably do another small structure.

Feedback appreciated!

 

[GoTakeANap]

looks really good buddy.

 

[miran2782]

Nice work, plenty of space for corals to fill in.

Two additional small separate structures placed on diagonal on line directly under arch would look nice. Maybe only half height of arch opening to not spoil the NSA feel. Possibly use some shelf rock into a cave or two to give a couple hiding places for fish. I followed up the superglue with emarco400 mortar as a lot of the online videos show because I don't know the longevity of superglue holding everything together. Just a couple suggestions but it is your tank so do what you like since you will be looking at it everyday.

 

[ninjamyst]

Nice work, plenty of space for corals to fill in.

Two additional small separate structures placed on diagonal on line directly under arch would look nice. Maybe only half height of arch opening to not spoil the NSA feel. Possibly use some shelf rock into a cave or two to give a couple hiding places for fish. I followed up the superglue with emarco400 mortar as a lot of the online videos show because I don't know the longevity of superglue holding everything together. Just a couple suggestions but it is your tank so do what you like since you will be looking at it everyday.

Thanks for the feedback! I plan to make an anemone rock today with a nice tunnel for my bubble tip to attach to. That will sit nicely below the arch. Still debating on adding mortar. The glue + sand is suppose to be strong enough. I will flip the structure over today and reinforce the joints.

 

[Megability]

Looks great! Did you use any glue accelerator?

What’s the baking soda for exactly?

I just watched that hour long BRS video on this technique too (well no baking soda) and I’m going to start my own project as soon as my glue arrives…

 

[ninjamyst]

Looks great! Did you use any glue accelerator?

What’s the baking soda for exactly?

I just watched that hour long BRS video on this technique too (well no baking soda) and I’m going to start my own project as soon as my glue arrives…

The baking soda is the accelerator. Good luck with your project! It's fun and rewarding but also time consuming.

Here's an updated photo. I decided to completely separately the two structures instead of making them look connected. I think this has a more dramatic feel.

 

[ninjamyst]

Instead of waterbox, I ended up getting innovative marine 200 peninsula. 70 x 30 x 20. Since it's bigger, I modified the scape a little.

Too much rocks? I am thinking about chopping off the back of the 3rd rock with the branches....

 

[elorablue]

Instead of waterbox, I ended up getting innovative marine 200 peninsula. 70 x 30 x 20. Since it's bigger, I modified the scape a little.

Too much rocks? I am thinking about chopping off the back of the 3rd rock with the branches....

Really great job !

 

[Jekyl]

Instead of waterbox, I ended up getting innovative marine 200 peninsula. 70 x 30 x 20. Since it's bigger, I modified the scape a little.

Too much rocks? I am thinking about chopping off the back of the 3rd rock with the branches....

Definitely not too much

 

[attiland]

Instead of waterbox, I ended up getting innovative marine 200 peninsula. 70 x 30 x 20. Since it's bigger, I modified the scape a little.

Too much rocks? I am thinking about chopping off the back of the 3rd rock with the branches....

I like this version the most. Definitely not too much rock. I would turn the third structure about 90’ or 180 degree to get a bay effect

 

[ninjamyst]

I like this version the most. Definitely not too much rock. I would turn the third structure about 90’ or 180 degree to get a bay effect

Whats a bay effect???

 

[Jekyl]

Whats a bay effect???

Like a cove

 

[ninjamyst]

Like a cove

Got it...it's a peninsula tank so I want the scape to look good from both sides. If it's a standard tank, I would definitely do a bay effect. I ended up smashing up the 3rd rock and rebuilding it to be smaller. I know I won't have as much space to mount corals but I want to maximize the negative space effect. Also want to keep the height descending from left to right.

 

[Jekyl]

Got it...it's a peninsula tank so I want the scape to look good from both sides. If it's a standard tank, I would definitely do a bay effect. I ended up smashing up the 3rd rock and rebuilding it to be smaller. I know I won't have as much space to mount corals but I want to maximize the negative space effect. Also want to keep the height descending from left to right.

Don't go too far in the reduction. NSA is nice to look at but bad for fish.

 

[ninjamyst]

Don't go too far in the reduction. NSA is nice to look at but bad for fish.

For sure I considered that. I made a lot of caves and ledges and overhangs. At the base of each structure, I plan to put a couple of rocks against it to create more hiding places. The base of the first structure is an example.

 

[dbq5anlxj]

what type of sand are you using for this？ is the bound strong？ thanks

 

[Eldritch_blast]

what type of sand are you using for this？ is the bound strong？ thanks

I just did a similar method of this, and when I did it I used whatever caribsea bag matched the rocks the most, and also swept up a ll the dust from busting up rocks, which there will be a lot of I bet you could get by with just that. But the Caribsea was slightly moist which was helpful when throwing it into cracks or what was really handy was a paintbrush. Not sure if I’ve seen that in any videos or if I thought of it in my own but I finished it off with mortar after. Many people go with the glue/sand only but the mortar really helped me feel better about putting it into a permanent location.

 

[dbq5anlxj]

I just did a similar method of this, and when I did it I used whatever caribsea bag matched the rocks the most, and also swept up a ll the dust from busting up rocks, which there will be a lot of I bet you could get by with just that. But the Caribsea was slightly moist which was helpful when throwing it into cracks or what was really handy was a paintbrush. Not sure if I’ve seen that in any videos or if I thought of it in my own but I finished it off with mortar after. Many people go with the glue/sand only but the mortar really helped me feel better about putting it into a permanent location.

thanks so much for the reply. are you using the gluemater thin type of glue? I just got one it‘s kind oil like not water like. It takes few second to soak into the power.

 

[Eldritch_blast]

thanks so much for the reply. are you using the gluemater thin type of glue? I just got one it‘s kind oil like not water like. It takes few second to soak into the power.

Ya that works. I used starbond and the general bonding glue from BRS I think it was called, it was their thin stuff. I used the thick stuff too but only to set some bigger pieces then promptly filled the gaps with sand/thin glue. The stuff from BRS was much better, I felt I had to use twice as much of the starbond

 

[dbq5anlxj]

Ya that works. I used starbond and the general bonding glue from BRS I think it was called, it was their thin stuff. I used the thick stuff too but only to set some bigger pieces then promptly filled the gaps with sand/thin glue. The stuff from BRS was much better, I felt I had to use twice as much of the starbond

Thanks again. I'll give it a try tomorrow.